


Nobody Ever Forgets

by orphan_account



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: AU, Gen, POV Donna
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-01
Updated: 2013-09-01
Packaged: 2017-12-25 08:00:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/950658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Merry Christmas, Amelia Pond," she said. "The girl who waited."</p><p>She pushed her hands inside of her pyjama pockets and walked back inside of the back door, closing it behind with a thud and smiling to herself all the while.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nobody Ever Forgets

  


* * *

Snow brushed silently onto the horizon, falling in thick piles and betraying the marked-out paths of citizens into town. The half-lit dreams of those inside were bluntly masked by the brewing storm cloud ahead of the sleeping borough. Cast aside to the confines of their own homes, their silent paradise would soon be erased when the clock struck eight. Then the merry reality of their world would slowly hit them; the water in their ponds would dimple until frozen over with ice and the monotony of life each December 25th would come crashing down.

The earliest waking lady had not yet opened up her fading eyes, the endlessly used path to the local church covered by last night's fresh blanket of snow. A sudden shadow overtook her home as soon as the clock called for morning, a flurry of snowflakes rushing through the semi-solid air. When the tremors ceased to quake and the wind grew silent, she opened up her eyes and peered out of the half-open window. The brightly coloured suburbia, each house complete with a steaming chimney, blurred her vision as she woke. Yet even on this cold December morning, the same red haired little girl sat perched on the same tree stump in her back garden, her woolen gloves protecting her hands from the bitter cold.

The melting puddles of snow amongst the blades of grass fizzed with childish rebellion as they thawed over with the chill, lapping against the ground like a tide. The icy specks on top of houses appeared so wrought she wondered if they would never melt despite each coming season. The immortality of such a day was perhaps the only prosperity beyond each person's crippling doubt; Christmas was an annual occasion and a day that waking children all around the world would treasure.

The old lady put on her slippers and made her way into her garden. She peered through the misshapen fence, her eyes pressed against the cracks so as to catch a glimpse of the young girl, who sat with her head pressed against her wrists and her fingers cradling her face.

"Hello?" the lady asked. Her lips slowly parted, the word floating out of their mouth like a hologram. "Are you okay through there? Is there anything I can do for you?"

Amelia looked up, startled by the voice. She lifted herself up from the tree stump and brushed down her skirt. Her hair was matted and had begun to freeze over at the ends. "Who is it?" Her voice shook as if frozen by the weather.

"It's me," the woman replied. "I live next door to you, I could see you through my bedroom window." Her pink woollen pyjamas creased in the wind.

"I'm fine," Amelia said, the whine in her voice all too evident. It was obvious her parents pressed the same question upon her day after day, and she was all too used to providing the same old response.

Undeterred by the young girl's reply, the frail lady continued. "What are you waiting for?" she asked, "It's Christmas day, you should be inside spending time with your family."

"I don't have any family." Amelia's voice was stern and abrupt, yet almost deserved a degree of sympathy given the circumstances she'd grown up surrounded by.

"I'm sorry," the woman continued. "But won't you tell me why you're out here all alone on a morning like this? Are you waiting for a friend?"

Amelia nodded her head.

"Who's your friend? The sort of friend that turns up late all of the time, and leave you waiting around?"

Amelia nodded once more, this time with a tear in her eye.

"Have you been waiting a long time?"

"Yes." Her chapped upper lip bled slowly onto the lower before she moved her gloved hand up towards her mouth and wiped away the red liquid.

"How long have you been waiting?" She smiled as if to encourage her neighbour to elaborate.

"A few months." There was something about the woman's demeanour that encouraged honesty.

She nodded. "I knew somebody like that. Except he wasn't what you'd call an average friend. He liked to make the most of his time, and sometimes he didn't realise how much time had passed. He wanted to experience as many things as his life would allow. He was a man who wanted to travel the universe and back in a day before arriving home and planning the same thing tomorrow." She laughed, powered by her nostalgia.

Amelia's eyes widened and her eyebrows raised. "Raggedy man," she whispered.

"Who?"

"You know Raggedy Man, don't you? You know who he is. Do you know where I can find him? Do you know if he'll come back for me?"

The old lady laughed once more, smiling as she realised who Amelia's friend really was. "I can't tell you any of those things. But I can tell you something else you should probably know." She paused, looking down towards the ground as she gathered her thoughts. "Raggedy Man isn't the type of person to give up on somebody. He's seen so many things and he's broken so many hearts that he'll do his best to make sure he does as little damage as he can do. And Raggedy Man doesn't forget. Not ever." She smiled. "I think you're going to be very special to him one day, Amelia. Very special indeed. More special than even I was to him. But they're all special, every one of them."

Amelia lowered her brows and wrinkled her nose. "Who are?"

"You'll soon find out, Amelia Pond. And one day you'll look back on this conversation and you'll laugh just as I have done. And maybe you'll mention this to the Doctor - and maybe he'll smile, maybe he'll _cry_. But he will remember. Nobody ever forgets life with the Doctor. Not even me."

Donna brushed back the hair over her forehead and lowered her hands to her sides. "Merry Christmas, Amelia Pond," she said. "The girl who waited."

She pushed her hands inside of her pyjama pockets and walked back inside through the door, closing it behind with a thud and smiling to herself all the while.

**Author's Note:**

> This is 100% AU and I just wanted to write something short and sad I'm so sorry


End file.
